Sheerly Avni is a film and culture writer guest-blogging for Mother Jones from Austin’s South by Southwest Festival. Read her first and second dispatches.
First They Came For the Bees
The Last Beekeeper, a moving 66-minute documentary that follows a year in the lives of three professional beekeepers, was never intended as a commentary on the recession. But it’s difficult to watch these three very different Americans struggle to make it, and not think about how many other people in the country are suffering the same defeats, regardless of their professions.
The American dream at its best is predicated on the belief that hard work, honesty and passion will bring you success, or at least survival. What the beekeepers discover, in Montana, South Carolina, Washington, and California, is that the dream is a lie.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking protagonist is stoic Brian, who hides his pain and financial losses from his wife. It’s a scene almost certainly being replayed in countless homes across the country. The film doesn’t push the allegory, but it doesn’t need to: It’s not just the bees who are dying.
Borat on A Budget: The Yes Men Dream of Better News
“If a few people at the top can make the bad news happen, why can’t a few people at the bottom make some good news happen?” —The Yes Men Fix the World
Fans of The Yes Men will be pleased to know that the activist prankster collective, fronted by charming shape-changers Andy Bichibaum and Mike Bonanno, have followed up their WTO-lampooning first film with a series of outrageous pranks that make “An Immodest Proposal” look like the New Deal. No spoilers, I promise, but just imagine if you could do this for a living:
- Drive down the stock of a global corporation (if only for an hour or two)
- Inject FEMA with a conscience
- Introduce a revolutionary new alternative energy fuel.
Not bad for a day’s work, or even five years of after-hours backbreaking toil. Although the film suffers from too much padding and a clunky narrative frame, it’s still good inspiring fun. The Yes Men are committed gadflies, not auteurs, and as DIY agitprop (The Yes Men Fix the World was made on a modest $1.2 million budget), this sequel offers up inspiration for the weary and elevates practical jokes to the level of impractical, impassioned optimism.
Whether “representing” DOW, FEMA, or the dreams of Joe Public, the Yes Men’s antics are predicated on their explicit, stated belief that they are not playing hoaxes. Instead, they are giving us brief glimpses of what the world might look like if decency and common sense prevailed.
NB: Fans of Borat on a bigger budget will be pleased to hear that Bruno’s sneak peak was received with raves and raucous cheers. For more on Bruno, and other highlights of SXSW, go to David Hudson’s excellent blog on IFC.
